School of the Cat
}} |Predecessor = Order of Witchers |Status = Extinct (?) |Headquarters = Dyn Marv Caravan Stygga Citadel |Location = Nomadic |Leader = Guxart Treyse |Members = Brehen Gaetan Jad Karadin Kiyan |Area served = Continent |Country = Kaedwen Ebbing |Appears_books = |Appears_games = |Appears_other = }} School of the Cat is a "school" of ragtag witchers whose current headquaters are located in the travelling Dyn Marv Caravan. They are apparently one of the few schools training women. Ciri claimed a Cat School medallion from the corpse of Leo Bonhart who had reportedly slain at least one of its members. History Stationary School Due to conflicting resources it is hard to determine the exact beginnings of the School – or whether the witchers that currently name themselves Felines share the same ancestry with those who used this name before. It is believed by scholars that the school was inspired by, or even collaborated with Aen Seidhe. Regardless of their beginnings, early Cats were flayed of emotions, giving an impression of almost alien race. They reportedly were stationed at the Stygga Citadel. If true, it is possible that the grateful attitute towards witchers by the people of the bogs of Pereplut, who respected witchers not only for slaying monsters but bandits as well, might be a sign of their activeness. Despite the lack of emotions, Cat witchers used to involve in politics, such as by delegating witcher Dragonfly to help with dethroning her uncle. It is said the School of the Cat were not committed to a position of neutrality and as a result, they were often hired as spies and assassins. It is believed that at some point in their history, the alchemical formula used to mutate Cat witchers was changed – leading not to suppressing the emotions, but apparently intensifying them. Before the error that tainted the formula could be corrected, it was already too late – a new generation of Feline witchers was born. When these "emotional" witchers seized the school, they preserved the modified formula, and so the famed characteristics of the Cats were born. The ill repute of Feline witchers became increasingly notorious in royal circles. After a time, kings and queens began to fear in earnest for their lives. One day, an army marched onto the grounds of the School of the Cat. For three days the blood-soaked slaughter persisted, but eventually every last defending witcher perished. Those who were not present during the attack continued to roam the world's roads - embittered, hungry for vengeance, with nothing left to lose. The Caravan It is likely that the ones who survived the attack formed the Dyn Marv Caravan, a traveling troop of witchers who sold their skills to anyone who could pay, for any job. Other say that the modern Cats are just renegades, successors of the outcasts from other schools whose mutations failed and who were named Cats by no other than themselves. Regardless their origin, the reputation of assassins, spies and swords for hire remained with the modern Felines. "Cooperation" with the Wolves They eventually settled in Hertch, near the Summer Camp of the Wolf School. For some time since then schools of the Wolf and of the Cat were funded by Kaedweni monarchs. The student exchanges took place and some older witchers befriended each other. However, a fraction within the school centered around its leader Treyse, unbeknownst to experienced school members such as Guxart, engaged in a plot against the Wolves together with King Radowit II's mage Astrogarus. They were convinced that if they help the Kaedwenis to kill off the Wolves, they would be given a special position within the new witcher order under the King's orders. Guxart and others without the knowledge of the plot were arrested by King's men so that Treyse's faction could proceed. The plot turned badly – for both schools. Just after the Cats attacked the disarmed Wolves at the Witcher Tournament, the King ordered his men to kill off all the witchers, showing that the sole reason of the Tournament was to get rid of growing witcher schools. Treyse was among the ones who were shot.Parowski and Polch's comic series Contemporary situation Some say that Dyn Marv has been disbanded, while others speculate that some of the Cat witchers has started to return to their quaters, seeing that the monsters are becoming a threat again. Regardless, some of them have been forever banned from entering Kaer Morhen and complain that while the Wolves can warm themselves in the Keep, the Cats don't have a place to spend winters. Some time before the soldiers have taken the caravan, as reported by Joël. Characteristics The Cats developed fighting styles focusing on speed, precision, and agility. As a result, Cat school witchers as well as their equipment do not deal a lot of raw damage, but can inflict deadly critical hits. By extension, their gear was designed to maximize flexibility and provide the greatest possible range of motion. Unfortunately, members of the Cat school proved as flexible in terms of morals and politics as their armor. Over time, they became pariahs even among their fellow witchers due to taking contracts on not just monsters but humans as well, with the latter going against the witchers' code. One of the possible reasons for their leniency was the mutation process, which tended to create an abnormal number of psychotic witchers from their school. Members * Aiden * Axel * Brehen * Cedric * Dragonfly * Gaetan * Guxart * Jad Karadin * Joël * Kiyan * Lexandre * Schrödinger * Treyse Season of the Cat reward tree This event allows to unlock the lore on this school and a cardback with the school's medallion. :''Scroll 1: Each witcher school holds a unique reputation. Bears - sulkers and firebrands. Wolves - traditionalists. And Cats? Prone to use steel swords more often than silver.'' :''Scroll 2: Unlike other witchers, those from the School of the Cat were not committed to a position of neutrality. As a result, they were often hired as spies and assassins. And it's no wonder – assassinating a nobleman usually paid better than slaying a drowner.'' :''Scroll 3: The ill repute of Feline witchers became increasingly notorious in royal circles. After a time, kings and queens began to fear in earnest for their lives. For the witchers, however, this came not as a point of pride, but one of concern, for rulers do not like to feel threatened...'' :''Scroll 4: One day, an army marched onto the grounds of the School of the Cat. For three days the blood-soaked slaughter persisted, but eventually every last defending witcher perished. As for those who were not present during the attack? They continue to roam the world's roads - embittered, hungry for vengeance, with nothing left to lose...'' :''Chest 1: Members of the School of the Cat are ill-famed due to their penchant for frenzy and bloodlust in the heat of battle. Even when their enemies capitulate, beg for mercy... They never stop killing. The inhabitants of Honorton learned this truth in the most brutal fashion. Instead of rewarding a Feline witcher for a contract fulfilled, they withheld their coin and skewered him with pitchfork instead. Gaetan – so was the monster slayer's name – survived the treacherous blow, yet the bloodshed did not stop there... The witcher slaughtered the entire village – men, women, children, the sick and feeble... It mattered not who had a hand in his betrayal. Only one survived the massacre, a young lass named Millie...'' :''Chest 2: What makes witchers from Cat school so cruel and impetuous? It is widely believed to be a side effect of their mutations. While emotions are suppressed in other witchers, the alchemical cocktail used in the School of the Cat had apparently intensified them. Before the error that tainted the formula could be corrected, it was already too late – a new generation of Feline witchers was born. A generation who would seize control of the School... And had no intention of changing the formula.'' :''Chest 3: Although Ciri trained at the School of the Wolf, she wore a Feline witcher's medallion. She had claimed it from the lifeless body of infamous bounty hunter Leo Bonhart. Bonhart had boasted that he was one of few to ever best a witcher in combat – and several at that – as evidenced by the three silver medallions fastened to his belt. The swordmaster never claimed a fourth, however, as Ciri spilled his blood over the cold cobblestones of Stygga Castle.'' References de:Katzenschule fr:École du Chat it:Scuola del Gatto pl:Wiedźmińska szkoła cechu Kota pt-br:Escola do Gato ru:Школа Кота uk:Школа Кота Category:Witcher Schools